Georgia gearing up for option

Georgia Southern's Ezayi Youyoute attempts to break the tackle of Tennessee Chattanooga's Wes Dothard during a game on Oct. 2 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Associated Press

ATHENS, GA. — With an eye on the scoreboard and the BCS standings, No. 5 Georgia will step out of its normal routine for a couple of weeks to play a pair of throwback teams.

First up, small-college powerhouse Georgia Southern.

The Bulldogs, who have already locked up a spot in the Southeastern Conference championship game, should have no trouble adding another win to their record Saturday. Even so, this apparent mismatch could provide some useful guidance on how Georgia will handle its regular-season finale against another neighborhood rival, Georgia Tech.

The Eagles are coached by Jeff Monken, who used to be an assistant at Georgia Tech. Both teams have essentially the same run-oriented option offense, giving Georgia (9-1) a useful tuneup for next week’s game against the Yellow Jackets.

“If you’re going to play that type of offense twice in a season, it’s probably better to do it back to back rather than in game four and game nine,” Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. “You kind of go back and forth on a certain mentality, and if we can maintain the same mentality for two weeks in a row instead of having to go back and forth, it’s probably not a bad thing.”

Linebacker Christian Robinson said it will be especially beneficial to work against Georgia Southern’s cut blocking scheme, a potentially dangerous technique that involves hitting at the knees.

The Bulldogs will certainly see more of that when they face Georgia Tech.

“It’s a good thing the way this works out,” Robinson said. “A big thing for this week is that we’re going to have to knock them back and then stay on your feet and make plays. Obviously, we’re going to go against cut blocks, so getting to play against it two weeks in a row will allow us to get better at playing against that block.”

Richt had been working hard to make sure his team doesn’t look beyond these next two games, but that’s going to be difficult. Georgia will be making its second consecutive trip to the SEC title game (and a likely meeting against No. 4 Alabama), and there’s still an outside shot at slipping into the national championship race.

The Bulldogs are fifth in the BCS. They’ll need to win out, pull for two of the undefeated teams to lose (from a group that includes No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Kansas State and No. 3 Notre Dame) and hope that’s enough to land them a spot in Miami.

“I don’t worry about it,” Richt said. “If you worry about stuff you can’t control, you’re really wasting your time and you’re going to make yourself crazy a little bit.”

Besides, it’s rather stunning that Georgia finds itself in this position at all, considering its one loss was a doozy — a 35-7 blowout at South Carolina. But a favorable schedule and a big win over Florida propelled the Bulldogs to another SEC East title.

Now, they have a chance to sneak in the back door for a shot at the biggest prize at all.

“I haven’t talked to [the players] about it,” Richt said. “We just talk about focusing on Georgia Southern. I don’t know how often they look at that or think about that.”

Georgia Southern (8-2) claimed a share of the Southern Conference championship and will be doing some scoreboard-watching of its own. If The Citadel beats Furman, the Eagles will get the league’s automatic berth in the FCS playoffs.